Loose Change~ Montgomery De La Cruz / Zach Dempsey/Scott Reed

Chapter 17

*****

Zachary was not able to eat after hearing Ophelia's tape for the first time. Everything Hannah said about anything had taken away his appetite, but Ophelia's is what really did it. The other stuff, he had known about. At least, some of it. He did not know Bryce was a rapist, but he knew he was a bad guy capable of bad things.

He knew Montgomery was also a bad guy, capable of bad things. But they used to be friends. He never would of guessed he was an abuser. But more truthfully, he never would have guessed Ophelia would stay with an abuser. Or that anyone would ever want to hurt her in the first place.

He did not believe the tape at first. He needed to hear Ophelia's side of the story to know it was true. But Ophelia didn't show up for school. In fact, she didn't show up for three whole weeks. And then she did, and Zachary saw Montgomery yell at her in front of everyone in class, and for a moment he believed every word Hannah said.

But Ophelia told everyone she was lying, so he believed it, and he tried to find things that made him keep believing her.

Montgomery saved her from Bryce, that was one. He didn't let her get raped like Justin had with Jessica. And Montgomery did talk crudely about Ophelia in the locker room, but he would not let anyone else say bad things about her. And he was sweet to her when she went to Bryce's Pool house, or when they all went out after football games.

Yes, Montgomery was a tool. He was an asshole who made everything sexual and had a lot of anger problems.

But now Zachary knew the truth.

Ophelia wanted to tell him the truth the other day, when they were alone. She didn't have the time to say the words, but her eyes told him everything.

Hannah wasn't lying. Montgomery hit Ophelia.

The only bit of hope that he had left came from Hannah only being able to produce one side of the story from Rep Night. Maybe Ophelia's side was better.

Zachary wanted to catch Ophelia alone again. He hoped now that Montgomery was suspended he'd be able to. But she was not there the first day. And then the second day, he had a hard time finding her. Finally, he did. At the end of lunch, when he had gone to his car to put away his lunch, he saw her getting out of Tony Padilla's mustang. Crying.

Zachary hurried over, and had no problem yelling at the smaller man. "What the fuck, Padilla? What the fuck did you do to her?"

When Zachary reached them, he gently moved Ophelia so that she was behind him. Guarding.

Ophelia put her hand on Zach's shoulder.

"It's okay," she told him, "He didn't do anything."

Tony put his hands up. "We just went for a drive, man."

"And how the fuck am I supposed to trust you?" Zach demanded, sudden anger and protection sprouting from nowhere. "Everyone at this school is turning out to be a fucking rapist!"

"Hey, hey, hey," Ophelia said softly. He turned him, gently. He didn't want to look away from Tony, she put a hand on his face to turn him towards her. "Is that what you're worried about? He didn't do anything, Zach. I swear."